O Alberto Nepomuceno’s Wagnerism and its Evolution in the Art Song

Abstract

In Brazilian musical historiography, great emphasis was given to the role of Alberto Nepomuceno in the formation process of a “Brazilian” Art Song, sung in Portuguese and of a nationalist character. Little attention was given, however, to the role of his Wagnerism in this same process. Articulating a historical contextualization of the phenomenon with an analytical appreciation of a sample of the composer’s oeuvre, the study seeks to reveal his understanding and use of Wagnerian “categories” of musical composition between the years 1894 and 1901. In a historical and comparative perspective, culminating in a closer examination of the vernacular song Turqueza op. 26 No. 1, it becomes possible to outline general and specific aspects of Nepomuceno’s Wagnerism, encompassing three different “solutions” of the composer to the problem of the Wagnerist Lied of his time.

Keywords: Nepomuceno; Wagnerism; Art Song